


Winged Menace

by poopipa



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Character Development, Dragons, Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Magic, Romance, Slow Burn, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:08:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poopipa/pseuds/poopipa
Summary: Dragons weren’t supposed to exist. In the kingdom of Iratus, a dragon is believed to be the most pure form of evil in the mortal realm and must be eradicated on sight. But when a poor farmer finds himself staring death in the face and is saved by one of them, he begins to question everything he had ever been taught. And now he has a secret to keep. Or two. And he would be promptly executed if anyone ever found them out.
Relationships: America/Russia (Hetalia)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	1. Woe to the Unwary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for checking out my story. I’m really excited to write it, and I hope you enjoy!

It was a chilly morning, as it usually was on the outskirts, but the promising warmth of the sun’s shy rays soothed Alfred’s aching muscles. Winter was galloping towards them with great haste, and he wanted to harvest as much as he could before the cold consumed his livelihood, one of the season’s favorite annual activities. It also didn’t help that he was the only remaining member of the family farm; stealing the last breath of his relatives seemed to be Winter’s second favorite hobby. Maybe its only purpose was to simply torture him and make his life a living hell.

Oh well. It could be worse.

That was what Alfred told himself every morning. Every morning that he dragged himself from his rotting bedframe and traipsed around the dilapidated family cabin, feeling just as empty and cold as his lifelong home. Every morning that he pulled on his twin brother’s old fur coat over the ragged clothes that always stuck to his perpetually languid body. Every morning that he hesitantly emptied even more of his dwindling food stash to have breakfast, silent and alone at the rickety kitchen table.

It could be worse. It could always be worse.

With a long sigh that visibly floated from his chapped lips, Al stepped out into the early sunshine. He stood still for a few moments, allowing the mixture of crisp air and warm gold to wash over him, before turning to the fields to get to work.

He had just reached the toolshed when a sudden crash drifted from the nearby ravine. His brows furrowed in confusion. _I thought they shut that mining operation down months ago...?_

Alfred hadn’t realized he had started creeping toward the noise until another one, obviously much louder now, pounded against his ears. His heart was beating like a rabbit’s, and his breathing was starting to speed up, but curiosity kept pushing him forward.

When he finally reached the ravine’s edge, the smashes and bangs of metal and rock were excruciating, but Alfred forced himself to drop to his knees and peer into the gap.

He screamed.

Initially it was a surprised shout, but then realization set in, and panic swiftly took its place. Eyes wide and body trembling, he found himself staring into startled violet eyes that seemed as big as the moons.

A dragon was thrashing about deep in the ravine, stuck and entangled amongst the old mining shafts and abandoned equipment. Silver scales and white horns and spikes flashed blindingly in the light with such rapid movements, but its entire body had frozen upon spotting Alfred. Its startled glare quickly turned to that of fury, and a threatening snarl revealed rows of long, sharp, crimson-stained teeth.

After another bloodcurdling shriek, Alfred felt his legs turn to jelly. He scrambled away from the ledge before collapsing in a heap.

There was a dragon in his front yard. A dragon. _A fucking dragon_. How did it get here? Where did it come from? Why was it here? Was it alone? How did it get stuck? Did it fall? Was it hurt? What hurt it? Were there more? Was this a trap? Was he about to be plucked from the ground?

While Alfred was having a crisis, the crashing continued, and only when it fell silent was he jolted back into reality.

He held his breath, eyes pinned on the top of the ravine. It seemed like he waited forever, but no giant mass soared out to devour him. The farmer was only met with familiar still air and tense silence.

Slowly, Al crept back to take a peek.

It was staring at him.

Choking on a gasp, Alfred steeled himself, forcing his body to remain. It was still trapped; it couldn’t hurt him. Twisted metal was wrapped around its legs and semi-folded wings, digging into scales and skin to paint the glittering canvas with streaks of scarlet. When he met its eyes again, he saw something glint in their depths. He didn’t like it.

Then, a sound unlike anything he’d ever heard. It was deep yet smooth and thrummed in his chest as if it was vibrating out of his own heart.

“How long are you going to gawk at me?”

Did this thing just...talk to him?

Alfred blinked. And blinked again. “Uh, how did you...” He gulped. “...get...like this?”

And was he _talking back_?!

The dragon let out an annoyed growl and shifted its body, only succeeding in further staining its pristine color. “I fell,” it said simply.

Al raised an eyebrow. The creature mimicked him.

“What?” it hissed, indignant. “You best wipe that look off your face lest you want the whole thing ripped clean off.”

Alfred gulped again, but he refused to back down. A trapped dragon was on his farm. That’s not something every poor farmer could boast, and if he could keep it here for a bit longer, he wouldn’t be a poor farmer anymore. He grinned at the thought.

The dragon shook in rage. It furiously tried to free itself, getting angrier and angrier as it got bloodier and bloodier.

Al watched it struggle with an expressionless face. If he sent for guards now, he would be rich, no matter if they came back to the dragon dead or alive. This thought made him hopeful and excited; he could finally be free of his shackles of grief and despair and could live a life of comfort.

But when he searched deeper within himself, he found that he did not truly feel as he should.

This creature was desperate and hurting. The violence in its eyes had long since been replaced with fear.

Fear. Alfred didn’t know that a dragon could feel fear.

The next thing he knew, he was scaling the ravine walls and gingerly touching one of the dragon’s oozing legs, ignoring the look of confusion and irritation that was pinned on him.

“What are you doing?” the thing grumbled in his ear.

Alfred made up his mind right that instant. The nervous wavering of the beast’s voice, the desperation rolling off of it in waves, the fact that it hadn’t already bitten his head off when it clearly could have...

He began tugging at the wires.

The dragon flinched in pain. “What are you doing?” it repeated, more demanding this time, but Alfred didn’t miss that hint of hopefulness in its tone.

“Freeing you,” he replied evenly, earning a suspicious growl in response.

“Why?” It huffed and sent smoke billowing down over Al in warning.

Alfred blinked up at the dragon, utterly perplexed. It all suddenly clicked in his mind that he was trying to _free a dragon_. Why _was_ he doing this? When did he decide to do this? Was the dragon possessing him? Could dragons do that?

But the sincerity and defensiveness in the creature’s eyes washed those thoughts away.

“You’re a being in need of help,” Al finally said with a shrug as if it were nothing. “I like to help others.”

The dragon didn’t answer, but it didn’t threaten him anymore as Alfred worked to pry the wires loose, using the old tools strewn about to help him.

“My name is Alfred, by the way.”

He didn’t need to look up to know that the dragon was throwing him a strange glare. After a moment though, it replied and tugged Al’s lips into a grin. “E-vaan.”

“Fancy,” he said, glancing up in time to see the beast rolling its eyes. That caught Alfred off guard a bit; the motion was strangely...human. He knew that dragons were intelligent creatures, but he didn’t think that they would share such similar acts with ‘pitiful mortals.’ 

After staring at the back of its head for a bit longer, Alfred went back to his task, now at the wings. He winced every time it winced, and he hated seeing so much blood, especially on such pretty scales, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Besides, this dragon didn’t seem like a monster at all. Were all dragons like this? Al had never actually met a dragon before, but everyone knew the stories of them destroying towns and cities and eating entire populations. What if he freed this dragon and it instantly devoured a whole village? What if it instantly devoured _him_?

 _Well,_ Alfred thought as he cut away the last of the restraints. _It’s too late to go back now._

The dragon let out a sigh of relief and stretched its newly-freed legs and wings, hissing at the stinging that must’ve been shooting painfully throughout its body.

Alfred watched nervously as it finished and slowly turned to face him. It dipped its head so that they were eye-to-eye, and he tried not to shake as it studied him.

“Thank you,” it finally hummed. Al gave a nod, too petrified to speak.

It smiled at him — _smiled at him_ — before spreading its giant wings in preparation to take flight.

But it didn’t get to.

A murderous screech roared in Alfred’s ears before suddenly the mining shafts were completely destroyed. Something had slammed into the dragon, obliterating the only thing keeping Al from plunging into the abyss.

So plunge he did.

His screams were stolen from him by the wind rushing past him and filling his lungs, and he twisted his body so that he was now looking up at the sky instead of his impending doom. But the view that replaced it made his heart stop.

Another dragon was fighting his dragon.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Alfred watched frantic claws rake across deep green-and-black scales over and over as white spikes speared through opened jaws. There was blood everywhere. His eyes widened in horror as the figures grew smaller and smaller and his surroundings grew darker and darker. Time slowed further still, and he kept watching as a limp body began to plummet and a flying one began to dive.

The last thing he saw was simmering violet before he succumbed to the darkness enveloping him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t hesitate to leave kudos or write a comment if you like this so far! I really want to make people happy with this story. :D


	2. Tooth and Claw

Alfred awoke to the sight of blue sky. He felt the familiar stiffness of his bed beneath him and blinked in confusion. Was he dreaming? Where was his roof? He sat up and rubbed his bleary eyes.

Holy shit.

His entire house had been destroyed. Smoke billowed from the collapsed walls while dying embers skittered across the scorched stone floors in the breeze. All of his furniture had been burned or shattered; any contents that were held had been rendered useless, turned to piles of ash. The only thing that was left untouched was his bed.

Holding back a sob, Al surveyed his ruined livelihood. His home was gone, his farms were gone, and his family was gone. He truly had nothing now. It couldn’t be worse.

A sharp jab of pain shook his body as he hobbled to his feet. Groaning and aching everywhere, he finally forced himself to straighten up.

He froze.

Standing where the front door used to be was a man he had never seen before. He was tall and muscular with silky-looking silver hair that fell just past his thick brows and pale skin that shone as bright as snow. He was covered in leather armor decorated with an abundance of furs and stones and had a huge sword of unidentifiable metal slung over his padded shoulder. In a word, he was intimidating. Horrifyingly intimidating. But he stared at him with a frighteningly...familiar pair of eyes.

Violet. Blazing violet.

“Good morning, Alfred.”

Impossible.

The man spoke with the undeniable accent of a dragon: thick, rumbling, and enunciated. His voice wasn’t nearly as deep as the beast’s, but it was still much deeper than his own.

“...E-vaan?” It came out as a hesitant whisper.

He was waved at dismissively; the sword was placed on the ground. “Please, in this form, I am called Ivan.”

“But you...just said the same thing,” Al gawked.

Ivan gave him a look that clearly said _it’s complicated_.

Alfred just stared.

“Listen,” the man started. “I know you’re probably still in shock right now, but it’s really not safe for you to stay here.”

Oh yeah. His house was in smoldering shambles. Forgot about that.

“I was able to catch you before you hit the bottom of the ravine,” Ivan continued, “but if I had come out of hiding, the other dragons would have destroyed both of us as well as your property.”

Oh yeah. They had almost fucking died. Forgot about that too.

“Wait,” Alfred piped up, realizing something. “Who were the other dragons? Why were they fighting you? Was it their fault that you fell?”

His guest hesitated before answering. “They were...part of my tribe. I may or may not have done something to anger them, and they sent some dragons after me. And yes, one of them hit me hard enough to lock up my wings and make me fall, but I was able to lose them before I did. Obviously, that didn’t last long.”

Al’s chest tightened in terror. “Do you think they’ll come back?”

Ivan shook his head. “I guarantee they think the both of us are dead.” He grinned. “I’m free from my chains, and I supposed I have you to thank for that. Literally.”

Alfred flushed and threw out another question in a futile attempt to cover his embarrassment. “What did you do that made them so mad?”

His flush was mirrored. A hand flew up to scratch the back of an ivory neck tinted pink. “I, uh, I...accidentally...uh...killed our leader.”

Al’s eyes flew wide open. “ _What_?!” he roared, making the dragon — dragon-man? — flinch. “How the fuck do you _accidentally_ kill the leader of your fucking tribe?!”

Frantically, Ivan shook his head and waved his hands as he took a few steps closer. “No, no, no, listen. I didn’t actually do it. They just...They think I did. Someone set me up.”

He glared at him suspiciously.

“Honest! I’m the son of the chief; I would never kill my own father! But, of course, the thirst for power has always been a well-known motive for murder, so they had no reason to believe me when I told them it wasn’t me.”

“...How did it happen?”

Ivan sighed, suddenly looking sad and exhausted. “Poison,” he answered bluntly. “My mother found him. Happened during the night.”

Al swallowed; he felt guilty now. “Sorry,” he croaked, but he only got a shrug in response. He wanted to ask more questions. Did he have any idea of who actually did it? Did he want to find out? Was he ever going to go back? But he really didn’t want his new friend — could he call him that? — to feel any worse, so instead he found himself blurting out: “I’m an orphan.”

A silver head slowly rose to give him an inquisitive look.

“I lived here with my parents and my twin brother.”

Ivan kept staring at him. “Do you know any magic?”

“Huh?” Alfred spluttered at the unexpected question.

“Magic,” he repeated. “Were you ever taught any?”

Al shook his head. “My dad was super into magic, but he told me and Matthew he wouldn’t teach us until we were old enough. He, um...didn’t make it to that...”

More staring. “What about your mother?”

He stiffened. He hadn’t even thought about this. What would Ivan think? Would he be disgusted? Would he start beating him up or turn into his beast form and eat him? “Um...my, uh...my papa wasn’t too into magic.”

Ivan’s features remained expressionless. “I see. When were you left alone? How old are you now?”

Alfred breathed a sigh of relief. He still really wasn’t sure about this being; he didn’t know if he was lying about what happened yesterday, he didn’t know if he was telling the truth about his father, he didn’t know if he now found him despicable, and he wasn’t sure why he was asking all of these random questions, but he still felt bound to him somehow. They had saved each other’s lives and were now both on their own. Might as well just keep sharing everything about himself; he had nothing left to lose.

“Dad died when I was 12, Papa died when I was 16, and Matthew died when I was 18. Winter snowstorms gave them bad colds. I’m 21 now. Haven’t ever been as sick as them. Yet.” He twiddled his thumbs as he waited for a reaction.

The dragon still wore no expression. “I’m 69 years old.”

Al sucked in a breath. “B-But you look so young!” he exclaimed. “Wait, I thought you guys were immortal. Then you’ve, like, barely even been alive!”

He smirked. “Well, about that, dragons aren’t actually immortal.”

“ _What_?!” Alfred stammered. “B-But—“

The man held up a hand to silence him. “Humans just think that because they don’t live nearly as long as we do. Multiple generations of your people can live and die before one of mine passes.”

“I don’t...But how...?” The more the being spoke, the more Alfred’s knowledge of dragons was blown to smithereens. How come dragons knew so much about humans but humans barely knew anything about dragons?

Ivan pursed his lips for a moment. “Alright, let me explain. The average lifespan for a dragon is around, say, 210 years. A human’s is around 70. That means that every one human year is three dragon years.”

After taking a bit to contemplate, Al motioned for him to continue.

“Following this information, if you were a dragon, you would be 63 years old, and if I were a human, I would be 23.”

Alfred blinked. “So...we’re basically the same age?”

Ivan gave an affirmative nod. “Both as humans, we would be two years apart. Both as dragons, we would be six years apart. Despite the species difference, our brains are currently in the same stage of development.”

“Cool...” Al breathed in awe. But then he was confused again. “Hey, wait, aren’t you guys supposed to be, like, evil monsters that kill people though?”

Laughter. Boisterous, high-pitched laughter. Almost like... _giggling_. “No,” he choked out as he started to catch his breath. “Look, Alfred, humans base everything they know about us on rumors and legends. We actually take the time to study and learn about your people out of respect rather than lie to our children about you out of fear.”

Alfred assumed that was supposed to be an insult to his species, but he didn’t really feel personally offended.

Silence fell over them, and Al suddenly felt heavy and tired. “So...what now?”

Ivan’s face melted into sympathy before instantly twisting into something mischievous. “We leave.”

“We?”

“Yup.” He swooped down to pick up his sword before saluting at him, and within a few seconds he went from being a man to a cloud of sparkles to the same dragon he had encountered the day before.

“ _Now_ I’m E-vaan,” he told him with a deep bellowing laugh. “Get on.”

Alfred’s heart did flips and rolls within his chest. Leave his home of 21 years on the back of a kingdom-deemed monster that he met only yesterday?

“Okay,” came his hoarse reply.

E-vaan smirked.

The beast tilted his head, waiting until Al had a firm hold of one of his neck spikes before helping him heave himself onto his back.

“Don’t ever let go,” he warned.

Alfred gulped. “I won’t.”

He wasn’t in the air long before he decided that it was the best thing he had ever experienced in his entire life.

Air rushed through his golden hair like a river, flooding his nose and lungs with scents of nature and freedom. The blue of the sky reflected the blue of his own eyes, making him fly inside and out. Warmth from above washed over his sun-kissed skin and blessed him with the taste of pure happiness.

He opened his mouth and whispered into the wind. “And now you’ve freed _me_ of _my_ chains.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will be starting to get longer. :) Please let me know if you enjoy! Kudos and comments make me happier than words can express!


	3. Rough Ride

“So, what’s the deal with your name?”

They had flown until Alfred’s complaining stomach finally forced them to land. E-vaan had chosen a secluded forest clearing to drop him off at before returning with the broken corpse of a deer. Al had tried and failed to ignore its missing head and limbs as he began cooking it over a campfire.

Now in human form, Ivan stared into the flames as he answered. “The tradition is to have a same-sounding name for both forms, but they’re spelled adequately for each species.” He then explained how each name was spelled while Al just looked at him stupidly.

“That’s kinda dumb,” he mumbled with a yawn. He lazily took another bite of his dinner as Ivan rolled his eyes, visibly biting back the _so are you_ comeback.

A comfortable silence settled over them. Alfred continued to eat while Ivan continued to stare at the fire, the sound of soothing crackles and pops tickling the still air. The setting sun splattered the towering pines in pinks and oranges that starkly contrasted with the long black shadows shooting out from their bases. 

For the first time in a while, Alfred felt at peace. He was well-fed and warm, and he wasn’t alone. Granted, his company was...questionable, but he still hadn’t gotten any sixth sense telling him he was in danger. In fact, now that he thought about it...

“Hey.”

Ivan looked up at him.

“Why are you keeping me around? I mean, like,” he continued as an eyebrow was raised at him. “You could have just let me fall and die after I freed you. Why did you save me? And then why did you stick around until I woke up?”

He watched, stunned, as Ivan’s eyes rounded and cheeks reddened, and Al found himself grinning when he shot his gaze away.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled to the trees. “I just...My instincts told me to save you, and after that...” He shrugged and stared at the ground, drawing circles in it with a finger. His last words were hushed to a whisper. “I really don’t know.”

Alfred was speechless. This sudden timidity wasn’t something he expected to see in such a formidable person, but as he studied Ivan’s self-conscious features, he found that shyness...suited him.

He blinked in bewilderment and shook his head free of the thought before any evidence could manifest itself.

“Guess the gods really wanted us to meet, huh?” he joked, succeeding in getting Ivan to glance up at him. “We both saved each other for basically no reason other than we felt like it.” That one earned him a tentative smile, which made his chest flutter for some reason.

“I guess so.”

The comfortable silence returned, and as Alfred finished the rest of his meal, he felt another question poking at his tongue.

“Hey.”

Ivan was already looking at him.

He choked on his words and darted his eyes back to the ground with a silent curse. He could feel his blood rushing to his cheeks; there was no stopping it this time, not after meeting such an intense probing stare.

Alfred refused to lift his head as he spoke, instead busying himself with the browning blades of grass by his feet. “Why did you ask if I knew any magic?”

He could hear Ivan shifting uncomfortably, but he kept on playing with the grass; his embarrassment outweighed his curiosity.

“You have...an interesting aura. I’m surprised your fathers never taught you sooner; any dragon or magic-user could sense such promising potential in you.”

Alfred sucked in a sharp breath. He mentioned his dad and papa so casually...surely that meant he wasn’t disgusted by him then? Or was he just good at hiding it?

Then he processed what was just said.

“Promising potential?” Al repeated, forcing himself to look up.

Ivan was now also fiddling with the grass, his flushed face focused on his own dying blades. Alfred felt a soft smile tease his lips at the sight. Cute.

_What._

“Only some humans are blessed with the ability to use magic,” he explained to the ground, oblivious to Alfred’s ongoing crisis. “Or cursed, some fools say. Normal humans can’t detect this promise, though. As to why your training didn’t begin sooner...”

Realization struck Alfred, snapping him out of it as his companion glanced up at him. “Ah...Matthew must not have had it.” It would have been horrible for a little kid to learn that the gods had given your twin the power to use magic but not you.

But...why him?

When he relayed the question to Ivan, all he got was a shrug in response. “They have their reasons.” He hesitated and gave Al an unsure look before adding quietly: “And, by the way, I’m sure they didn’t take everything away from you out of malice. I think...I think you’re meant to find out why.”

Alfred bit his lip. Hard. He tasted blood. “I’m going to sleep.” It came out harsher than he intended, but he ignored the stab of guilt he felt from the hurt darkening Ivan’s face. He slammed his body on the dirt and faced away from the fire, letting the tears fall.

Why? Why was he crying now? He had gotten used to them being gone. He had gotten used to the numb feeling. He didn’t cry himself to sleep anymore. It had been nine years since Arthur had died. It had been five years since Francis had died. It had been three years since Matthew had died. He had had plenty of time to get over his losses by shoving them deep down within his heart and locking them away. He shouldn’t be crying. It was stupid. He was stupid. Why couldn’t he have died instead? He should have died instead.

_Why did you take them away from me?_

“I’m sorry.”

The words were so quiet that Alfred almost missed them, but he didn’t. And he didn’t miss the way they sounded so regretful and sorrowful, so full of both pity and fury. He could tell that Ivan wanted to say more, and he waited for it, but he was only met with silence and then the shuffling of someone lying down. Alfred cursed the disappointment that stung his chest and silently choked on the sobs that he refused to acknowledge.

He fell asleep dreaming about flying through the sky on the back of a great silver beast, the gleeful laughter of his family behind him filling his heart with pure joy.

—[•{•}•]—

Alfred was jolted awake and snapped his eyes open to see a worried violet pair staring down at him. He was about to ask what the fuck was going on and why Ivan was practically on top of him, but the other lifted a hand from his shoulder and pressed a finger to his lips to keep him quiet. Al had never felt so awkward yet terrified at the same time, and he refused to move or breathe until Ivan finally crawled off of him and let him slowly rise to a sit.

“Don’t. Speak.” Ivan’s gaze was pinned on the forest; the concentrated look on his face and his frantic tone of voice left Alfred kneeling like a lifeless doll as he studied the trees with him.

And then there were no trees. Just three giant masses of red-and-bronze and blue-and-green and yellow-and-purple that glinted in the rising sun and let out screeches so loud that Alfred could barely hear E-vaan’s command to get on.

“What the _fuck_ is going on?!” Alfred finally screamed. He clung to a neck spike like his life depended on it — it literally did — as they rolled and dived to avoid blasts of fire and lightning.

“They found us!” E-vaan swerved and launched his own breath of frost from his maw before shooting past his stunned opponents and fleeing the opposite way.

“No shit,” he muttered against cold silver scales. When he lifted his head and spun it around, he was met with enraged amber that seemed to glare right into his very soul.

“Got yourself a little pet, huh, E-vaan?” the red dragon called before just missing them with another bout of flames. “What lies have you told him to make him trust a monster like you?”

Lightning wizzed past Al’s face. He whirled to his right to see the yellow dragon scrutinizing him with piercing dark blue. “A fool is what the thing is. Probably been promised a date with death if he didn’t tag along.”

A shrill laughter reverberated gratingly within Alfred’s ears as the blue dragon suddenly appeared before them. Its moons of ice blue speared through his heart like a dagger. “A puny little human on the back of a dragon. Oh, E-vaan. You’re just so desperate, aren’t you?” Blazing sapphire was spat at them, narrowly avoided as quick silver weaved around the obstacle. The three mountains continued to angrily wail and chase their silent prey as it elegantly danced around attack after attack.

“Why won’t you fight back, you coward! Face what you’ve done and just _die_!”

Peaks and cliffs began to appear in the distance, and Alfred felt his hammering heart start to quiver with hope. E-vaan instantly steered toward them, and after hissing out more streams of ice and snow, he sped even faster towards their only chance at escape.

As they approached faster and faster, Alfred spun around and stuck out a middle finger at the trailing dragons. “Eat shit, assholes!” he howled, pleased at their furious faces and the sound of E-vaan’s laugh rumbling up through his body.

They dove into the midst of crumbling slates and sparse forests, not stopping until they had followed a path filled with constant twists and turns that was impossible to trail. E-vaan finally landed on an outcropping protected by a large overhang, heaving and exhausted.

“That was amazing!” Alfred hollered while he leapt to the ground. “How do you fly so fast?” He turned around to look up into the beaming face of Ivan.

“Training,” he deadpanned with a toothy grin.

Al smiled back at him, and they just stood there grinning at each other and catching their breath until curiosity tapped on his shoulder.

“Say, I thought dragons could only breathe fire?”

Ivan shook his head. “Nope. There are three types of elemental breath: fire, frost, and storm. The most memorable in human horror stories is fire, so...”

Alfred rolled his eyes. Damn. Why were humans such dumbass scaredy cats? And they didn’t even bother to actually learn about dragons. In a little over a day, Al had learned more about such awesome beasts than his entire species probably knew; they probably didn’t even know that they could turn into them!

That gave him another thought.

“Hey, Ivan?”

Ivan looked up quizzically from where he was gathering firewood by a fallen tree.

“Do you think some dragons live among humans and nobody knows?”

He got a smirk in response to that one, but he didn’t get an answer until the wood had clattered down next to Ivan’s sword.

“Tons of them do. I remember some members of my own tribe leaving to live in the cities.”

“Do they get mad at them for it?”

He paused for a moment before shaking his head. “It is always the individual’s choice to live as they want, but they must renounce themselves from the tribe forever before they can go.”

“Sounds tough,” Al winced. He sat down, and Ivan sat across from him on the other side of the tinder pile.

“The tough part is having to pack up and move from city to city to start over before people start to get suspicious about why you haven’t grown into an old, dying prune yet.”

Oh yeah. Dragons live, like, a century and a half longer than humans do. Forgot about that.

He also forgot that he was supposed to be upset with Ivan for what he had said the night before. But he just...couldn’t find it in him. He was blinking up at the gentle face of the man who had given him hope for the first time in his life. After saving it. _Twice_. There was no way he could be mad, especially since it had been said with good intentions.

“How do I find out?”

Ivan somehow knew exactly what he was talking about.

“By learning magic.”

When Alfred didn’t respond, Ivan gave him a kind smile and stood, holding out his hand.

“And I’m going to teach you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: I wrote all of this today.
> 
> Anyway, as usual, I hope you’re enjoying! <3


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